Glossary on Kalinga Prize Laureates UNESCO Kalinga Prize Winner – 1981 Sir David Attenborough A British Legend of Science Serials, Britain’s Best Known Natural History Film Maker & Arguably the World’s Foremost Television Naturalist [Born: May 8, 1926 in London, England …………] Mankind has Probably done more damage to the earth in the 20th Century than in all of Previous human history. ... David Attenborough “If we [humans] disappeared over right, the world would Probably be better off.” The Daily Telegraph, London, 12, November, 2005 … David Atenborough “It seems to me that natural world is the greatest source of excitement, the greatest source of visual beauty; the greatest source of intellectual interest . It is the greatest source of so much in life that makes life worth living.” … David Attenborough. 1 Glossary on Kalinga Prize Laureates David Attenborough : A Biographical Profile World’s Best Known Broadcasters, Humanists and Naturalists Born : May 8, 1926 London, England Residence : Richmond, London Nationality : British Field : Naturalist Alma mater : Clare College, Cambridge (Natural Sciences) Notable Prizes : Order of Merit, Order of the Companions of Honour, Royal Victorian Order, Order of the British Empire, Fellow of the Royal Society Sir David Frederick Attenborough, OM, CH, CVO, series is in production. He is also a former senior CBE, FRS (born on May 8, 1926 in London, England) manager at the BBC, having served as controller of is one of the world’s best known broadcasters and BBC2 and director of programming for BBC naturalists. Widely considered one of the pioneers Television in the 1960s and 1970s. of the nature documentary, his career as the He is the younger brother of director and actor respected face and voice of British natural history Richard Attenborough. programmes has endured more than 50 years. He is best known for writing and presenting the eight Early life : “Life” series, in conjunction with the BBC Natural Attenborough grew up in College House on the History Unit, which collectively form a campus of University College, Leicester, where his comprehensive survey of all terrestrial life. A ninth father, Frederick, was Principal.[1] He was the middle 2 Glossary on Kalinga Prize Laureates of three sons (his elder brother, Richard, became a which handled all non-fiction broadcasts. His early director and his younger brother, John, an executive projects included the quiz show Animal, Vegetable, at Alfa Romeo). During World War II his parents Mineral? and Song Hunter, a series about folk music also adopted two Jewish refugee girls from Europe. presented by Alan Lomax. Attenborough spent his childhood collecting fossils, Attenorough’s association with natural history stones and other natural specimens. He received programmes began when he produced and encouragement in this pursuit at age seven, when a presented the three-part series The Pattern of young Jacquetta Hawkes admired his “museum”. A Animals. The studio-bound programme featured few years later, one of his adoptive sisters gave him animals from London Zoo, with the naturalist Sir a piece of amber filled with prehistoric creatures; Julian Huxley discussing their use of camouflage, some 50 years later, this amber would be the focus aposematism an courtship displays. Through this of his programme The Amber Time Machine. programme, Atenborough met jack Lester, the curator of the zoo’s reptile house, and they decided Attenborough was educated at Wyggeston Grammar to make a series about an animal –collecting School for Boys in Leicester and then won a expedition. The result was Zoo Quest, first scholarship to Clare College, Cambridge where he broadcast in 1954, which Attenborough presented studied geology and zoology and obtained a degree at short notice, due to Lester being taken ill. in Natural Sciences. In 1947, he was called up for National Service in the Royal Navy and spent two In 1957, the BBC Natural History Unit was formally years stationed in North Wales and the Firth of Forth. established in Bristol. Attenborough was asked to join it, but declined, not wishing to move from In 1950, Attenborough married Jane Elizabeth London where he and his young family were settled. Ebsworth Oriel; the marriage lasted until her death Instead he formed his own department, the Travel in 1997. The couple had two children, Robert and and Exploration Unit[4], which allowed him to Susan. continue to front the Zoo Quest programmes as well First Years at the BBC : as produce other documentaries, notably the After leaving the Navy, Attenborough took a position Travellers’ Tales and Adventure series. editing children’s science textbooks for a publishing BBC Administration : company. He soon became disillusioned with the From 1965 to 1969 Attenborough was Controller of work, however, and in 1950 he applied for a job as a BBC2. Among the programmes he commissioned radio talks producer with the BBC. Although he was during this time were Match of the Day, Civilisation, rejected for this job, his CV later attracted the The Ascent of Man, The Likely Lads, Man Alive, interest of Mary Adams, head of the Talks (factual Masterclass, The Old Grey Whistle Test and The broadcasting) department of the BBC’s fledgling Money Programme. He also initiated televised television service. Attenborough, like most Britons snooker. This diversity of programme types reflects at that time, did not own a television, and he had Attenborough’s belief that BBC2’s output should be seen only one programme in his life. [2] However, he as varied as possible. In 1967, under his watch, accepted Adams’ offer of a three-month training BBC2 became the first television channel in the course, and in 1952 he joined the BBC full time. United Kingdom to broadcast in colour. Initially discouraged from appearing on camera because Adams thought his teeth were too big, [3] From 1969 to 1972 he was BBC Television’s Director he became a producer for the Talks Department, of Programmes (making him responsible overall for 3 Glossary on Kalinga Prize Laureates both BBC1 and BBC2), but turned down the offer to in tribal art. Others include The First Eden (1987), become Director General of the BBC. In 1972 he about man’s relationship with the natural habitats resigned his post and returned to programme making of the Mediterranean, and Lost Worlds, Vanished Lives (1989), which demonstrated Attenborough’s Major Series : passion for discovering fossils. In 2000, State of Foremost among Attenborough’s TV documentary the Planet examined the environmental crisis that work as writer and presenter is the “Life” series, threatens the ecology of the Earth. The naturalist which begins with the trilogy: Life on Earth (1979), also narrated two other significant series: The Blue The Living Planet (1984) and The Trials of Life (1990). Planet (2001) and Planet Earth (2006). The latter is These examine the world’s organisms from the the first natural history series to be made entirely in viewpoints of taxonomy, ecology and stages of life high-definition. respectively. In May-June 2006, the BBC broadcast a major two- part environmental documentary as part of its “Climate Chaos” season of programmes on global warming. In Are We Changing Planet Earth? And Can We Save Planet Earth?, Attenborough investigated the subject and put forward some potential solutions. He returned to the locations of some of his past productions and discovered the effect that climate change has had on them. In 2007, Attenborough presented “Sharing Planet Earth”, the first programme in a series of documentaries entitled Saving Planet Earth. Again Attenborough with a pair of albatrosses he used footage from his previous series to illustrate in the series Life in the Freezer the impact that mankind has had on the planet. “Sharing Planet Earth” was broadcast on 24 June 2007.[6] They were followed by more specialized surveys: Life in Cold Blood is intended to be Attenborough’s Life in the Freezer (about Antarctica; 1993), The last major series. In an interview to promote Life in Private Life of Plants (1995), The Life of Birds the Undergrowth, he stated: (1998), The Life of Mammals (2002) and his most recent, Life in the Undergrowth (2005), which Once I have completed the reptiles series […] concerned terrestrial invertebrates. Life in Cold that will be enough. It would complete the Blood (dealing with reptiles and amphibians) is survey for me. I will have given a series to currently in post-production and due for broadcast every group of animals and when that is done in 2008. [5] The “Life” series as a whole currently there would be 100 or so hours of DVDs on comprises 74 programmes. the shelf.[7] Attenborough has also written and/or presented However, in a subsequent interview with Radio Times, other shorter productions. One of the first after his he said that he did not intend to retire completely return to programme-making was The Tribal Eye and would probably continue to make occasional (1975), which enabled him to expand on his interest one-off programmes. 4 Glossary on Kalinga Prize Laureates Other Work : n 1996 : Companion of Honour (CH) “for services to nature broadcasting” In 1975, the naturalist presented a BBC children’s series about cryptozoology entitled Fabulous n 2000 : International Cosmos Prize Animals[8]. This represented a diversion from n 2003 : Michael Faraday Prize awarded by Attenborough’s usual fare, as it dealt with the the Royal Society creatures of myths and legends, such as the griffin and kraken. It was a studio-based production, with n 2004 : Descartes Prize for Outstanding the presenter describing his subjects with the aid of Science Communication Actions large, ornately illustrated books. n 2004 : Caird Medal of the National Maritime From 1983, Attenborough worked on two Museum environmentally-themed musicals with the WWF n 2005 : Order of Merit (OM) and writers Peter Rose and Anne Conlon.